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Last week, our reader Nithin from Dubai, sent us an email full of pictures of the 2013 Santa Fe in Dubai on its launch day. The Santa Fe is traveling around the world in a phased fashion and it is not hard to believe that it will break cover in India in the next year.

The current Santa Fe feels outdated, especially the interior, when compared to other members in the family like the Elantra and Sonata.

Selling a vehicle in the the 25 lakh rupee SUV segment is a matter of pride and also comes with good margins. Its no easy task, as there are German utility vehicles in that segment and the Toyota Fortuner is nothing short of a miracle worker, with volumes continuing to improve every year.

The locally-assembled Santa Fe is giving Hyundai the best result, their previous attempts with the Terracan and Tucson to sell a premium SUV in India turned out to be disappointments.

Hours back our daily reader Harish Kumar spotted a test mule of the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Harish says the new Santa Fe is already available in America for a starting price of US $24,450 (13.55 lakh rupees).

The top-end turbocharged 2-liter 264 hp petrol engine variant that returns 33mpg sounds very interesting. Hyundai USA is also presenting an exclusive long wheelbase, 7-seat version for families, while a naturally aspirated 2.4-liter engine with 190hp powers the entry variant.

The test mule lacks badges, misses body fitments and has a dark tint on the rear windows. Harish could have snapped the car during a scheduled endurance test.

For India, we expect Hyundai to retain the same powertrain package and price range.